The New Orleans Saints delivered one of their strongest defensive performances of the season, in their week 14 24-20 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was a cohesive effort across all defensive units, as the Saints held Tampa Bay to only 301 total yards.
Although the Saints surrendered 179 yards rushing, it took the Buccaneers 39 rushing attempts to reach this total. While New Orleans allowed its fair share of chunk runs, the defense also produced numerous run stops for negative yards or no gain.
The secondary was even more impressive, holding Baker Mayfield to his lowest completion percentage since joining the Buccaneers in 2023. He finished the afternoon completing 14-30 passes for 122 yards, 1 touchdown and an interception.
Saints discover blueprint to slow down Baker Mayfield
Baker Mayfield was inefficient throughout the entire game, and his completion percentage under 50% and his passer rating of just 55.1 underscored the outstanding job that the Saints defense did limiting his impact. Although they didn’t record a sack, the Saints consistently generated pressure on Mayfield, forcing him out of his comfort zone and making him scramble on numerous drop backs.
The Saints defense was also dominant on 3rd and 4th downs, holding Tampa Bay to 3-13 on third down attempts and coming up with 5 critical fourth down stops. Their biggest moment came late, when Demario Davis sealed the game with a decisive tackle on 4th and 4, punctuating a wonderful defensive performance that consistently shut the door on any Buccaneers comeback hopes.
The Saints defense appears to have uncovered a blueprint to contain Mayfield. It's easy to point to the rain, but this isn't the first time Mayfield has faced New Orleans. The results were pretty similar the first time as well.
Mayfield has struggled mightily against the Saints in their two meetings, as he has been limited to just 274 passing yards and 1 touchdown combined. Their ability to generate timely pressure and force him into uncomfortable reads has made them one of the few defenses to neutralize his impact.